Round 05: Donington Park – Europe

Europe

May 26, 2013

Rea Up and Down as Haslam is Forced Out of Home Race

Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) scored a fourth place in the first of two FIM Superbike World Championship races at Donington Park but after experiencing some issues in race two he dropped to 11th place, after running straight on more than once.

Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) won both races at Donington but Rea was only six seconds behind him in the first 23-lap race, having qualified fourth in Superpole on Saturday. Rea’s pace was so fast in the opening race that he set a new lap record at one stage, although Sykes would later beat it in race two.

Jonathan is seventh in the overall rankings after his home round experiences, with 89 points on the board after five rounds and ten races.

Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) had to withdraw from the Donington races after consultation with his team, despite having qualified 13th after Superpole and having completed morning-warm-up.

Still recovering from a serious leg break suffered at the Assen round of the championship a month ago, Haslam was forced to bow to the inevitable as he realized he could not complete two full race distances in his effort to race at his home round. He is planning to return to action at the next round, at Portimao, Portugal, in two weeks time, and fit enough to move on from his current 15th place in the championship points table.

Zanetti The Top Honda in Fourth Place at Donington

Italian rider Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) was the first Honda man home in the 22-lap FIM Supersport World Championship race at Donington and in doing so pushed his way to fourth in the overall standings. The race itself was won by Sam Lowes (Yamaha), from Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) and Roberto Rolfo (MV Agusta), with Zanetti heading up a three rider group on the final lap to take fourth place. Lorenzo had been fifth in qualifying as he continues to make positive progress through his rookie year in this category.

Michael van Der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) rode through the pain of a broken left foot after his crash at the previous Monza round, qualifying for the race in 20th place. Unfamiliar with the circuit he was to fall in the race but remount to finish 20th, and out of the points. He is now fifth in the rankings, four points behind his team-mate Zanetti.

Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto Honda) rode to sixth in qualifying at Donington with the Irish rider showing early race pace at the closest round he has to his native Ireland. He scored his best finish of his rookie year so far with sixth place at a circuit he knows well from his time in British Championship racing, he is now 9th in the points standings.

Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) was another Honda runner riding with an old injury and it was only fatigue in his right shoulder muscles that prevented the South African from going for an even higher race finish than seventh. He is 14th overall after five rounds.

For Gabor Talmacsi (PRORACE Honda) Donington was a success in terms of getting on the points scoreboard for the first time this season but he was disappointed to finish 12th, despite only qualifying 18th. Raffaele De Rosa (Team Lorini Honda) was one place behind Talmacsi, and was the last Honda rider in the points.

Luca Marconi (PTR Honda) went 18th while David Linortner fell while in a points scoring position, rejoined shortly afterwards, but was later forced to retire.
Matt Davies (Team Honda PTR) was another no-scorer as he was forced to retire.

“We were going well until the middle part of the first race and then the electronics were cutting in too aggressively. It was a little bit frustrating because I felt like a sitting duck. I even struggled to compete with Laverty and Guintoli as they came past. When I was behind Tom Sykes early in the race I wanted to go forward but he was doing absolutely nothing wrong. I was happy to know I could follow him at that pace for a time. Race two was a complete disaster. Already, on the sighting lap, I told the guys that we had a sensor problem on the traction control. They said there wasn’t enough time to fix it so I went out on a bike that I was really unsure of. In reality it was cutting way, way too much power and I even tried to turn the traction control off, but it wouldn’t turn completely off. I’m really frustrated after all the work we’ve done. We struggled for dry time at the start of the weekend but made some inroads during warm-up this morning and I felt good in race one. I feel like we should have been on the podium twice today.”

“As a rider it is frustrating, I do not think I would have taken that decision to not ride, even though in the long run it may be the right decision. Right now I just wanted to ride. I know any result would not have been great, or where we should have finished if I was fit, but riding around Donington in front of my home crowd is always a special event. Watching is sometimes harder than anything else.”

“I lost a little bit in the first three or four laps fighting with Marino and then Kenan came past and took me for second. I had the same rhythm as him, and I was keeping up so I hoped to get a podium. Then Rolfo arrived with an incredible pace. I am happy enough with fourth place because every time we are improving, moving forward. I think for the rest of the season it is possible to fight for a top five now. That is positive. We are continuing on our way and it is working well.”

“My foot injury was OK but I had not done a long stint on the bike like I did in the race. It is a bit sore now and the race was quite difficult in the end. My start was not too bad and I made progress, in 13th place, then I lost the front. I restarted the bike but I could not score any points. It is a little bit disappointing because my lap times are not too bad and I think if I was in a big group I could follow more easily, so I will have to do that next time.”

“A tough race but I am happy with my best result ever. I would have liked to go away with an even better result but we put on a good show for the British fans anyway. I think it will be onwards and upwards from here. I could not put on more pressure on the last laps because I was suffering from arm pump, hanging in for dear life, but I am happy to bring home some good points after a no-score at Monza.”

"My bike was awesome in the race. In the beginning I did not get the best of starts and touched with another rider, but all race long Zanetti was holding me up but we were fighting for the podium. My bike was faultless but at the end I could not hang on anymore. This track is very physical and the last three laps it was a disaster as I could not use my strength. I have to thank the team because we have made a step now and once my shoulder has recovered properly we can be up there fighting for the podiums.”

"My first championship points this year but I am not that happy because we expected a little bit more. Maybe this has started something and it is a base. We tried a lot of different configurations this weekend and especially in the wet on Friday we were very competitive. In the dry I was fast but I did not feel good so we returned to the previous qualifying set-up and finished 12th, from 18th on the grid.”

Matt Davies (Honda PTR)
Race result: DNF - Championship position: N/A

“I got an OK start and the race was good until the bike developed a problem in the first half of the race which meant I couldn’t continue. We have worked hard again this weekend and I am looking forward to the next race in Portimao.”